Respirator



R. A. GEORGE Dec. 9, 1952 RESPIRATOR Filed Aug. 3, 1951 INVENTOR. ROERTAGEORGE BY Patented Dec. Q, 1952 RESPIRATOR Robert A. George,Reading, Pa., assignor to Willson Products, Inc., Reading, Pa., acorporation of Pennsylvania Application August 3, 1951, Serial No.240,081

' 4 Claims.

The present invention relates generally to a respirator, and moreparticularly to means for mounting the face piece of a respirator on theface of the wearer, and has application to gas masks and similarapparatus.

A conventional type of respirator or gas mask is one having a face piecewhich is held against the face of the wearer by a plurality ofadjustable straps. An outstanding disadvantage of such straps, the endsof which are secured to spaced peripheral portions of the face piece, isthat a plurality of adjustments must be made in order to obtain acomfortable and air-tight fit between the face piece and the face of thewearer. Also an appreciable period of time is required for making theadjustments in the various straps which makes it unsuitable in emergencyuses, such as in cases where one must quickly put on a respirator toprotect himself against noxious gases. A further disadvantage in thecase of oxygen masks as used by aviators is that this plurality ofadjusting straps requires the use of both hands of the wearer which incertain situations are not freely available such as when a pilot isoperating the controls of the plane with one hand.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel respiratorwhich is devoid of the above mentioned disadvantages of types commonlyused.

A more specific object of the invention is to provide in a respirator, anovel pivotally mounted headgear which is easily and quickly clamped onthe head of the wearer and which requires the use of only one hand foradjusting the face piece in air-tight relationship with the face of thewearer.

A still more specific object of the invention is to provide a respiratorhaving a headgear of such construction and mounted on a molded rubherface piece in such a way as to insure an airtight seal of the marginaledge portion of the face piece about the chin, cheeks and forehead ofthe wearer, which air-tight seal is obtained by the simple expedient ofpivotally moving the headgear relative to the face piece on which it ispivotally mounted and then adjusting the girth of an element of theheadgear.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become more apparentfrom the following description taken with the accompanying drawingwherein:

Figure l is a side view of a respirator involving the principles of thepresent invention and wherein the respirator is shown in the mountedposition on the face of the wearer;

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Figure 2 is a front elevation view of the respirator shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged cross-sectional view of the pivot assembly takenalong line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged longitudinal crosssectional view taken throughthe head piece adjusting means shown in Figure 1 and,

Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along 5-45 of Figure 2.

Referring more particularly to Figures 1 and 2, numeral 1 denotes a facepiece of flexible material, preferably molded rubber or rubber-likesubstance, and having a marginal edge portion or perimeter which isadapted to fit against the chin, cheeks and forehead of the wearer. Theface piece is provided with an exhalation valve 2 in the form ofwheel-like rubber element, to the hub portion of which is secured thecenter of a flexible rubber diaphragm, the circumferential portion ofwhich will flex outwardly and allow exhaled air to pass outwardly of theface piece but which when drawn inwardly by inspiration of the wearerwill close the holes formed between the spaces of the wheel-likeelement. Fastened to face piece I is an inhalator tube 3 preferably offlexible tubing which leads filtered air, such as from a filter unit orchemical cartridge or perhaps oxygen from a suitable oxygen tank (notshown). The upper end of tubing 3 leads to a pair of air passages 4i and5 which are integrally molded in the face piece and having outletsimmediately below the bottom edges of the eye pieces 6. Such eye pieces6 may be made of plastic material or glass and may be firmly clamped onthe face piece I by means of clamping frames I.

An important feature of the invention is the construction and method ofconnection of the head piece to the face piece. The head piece comprisesa headband element 8 preferably made of stiff sheet material, such asfibre, adapted to extend about the back of the head of the wearer andhaving an integrally secured crown element 9 disposed at right angles toelement 8 and which is adapted to encircle the top of the head. Anadjusting knob I0 is provided for turning a pinion H which is engageablewith the teeth in an upper rack l2 and a lower rack 53 secured tooverlapping portions of headband element 3 so that by turning the knobH) in one direction the overlapping strip portions of head piece element8 will move relatively in one direction, to decrease the girth orcircumference of the head piece element 8, and when turned in theopposite direction, will cause relative movement in an oppositedirection to increase the circumference of the head piece element 8.Encircling the hub or adjusting knob l and the rack eleents is aflattened tubular element 8a forming a cover for the pinions and racks.

The forward end portions of head piece element 8 preferably extendforwardly and downwardly at an angle and their extremities are pivotallyconnected by pivots IE to the face piece 1. Thus, when it is desired tomount the mask on the face of the wearer, the headgear is pivotallymoved from the position shown in dot-anddash lines to the full lineposition. The forwardly and downwardly inclined disposition of the endportions of head piece element 8 is quite important not only forproviding suitable clearance for the ears of the wearer but forobtaining a vertical component of force on the face piece as the headpiece is moved from the dotand-dash line to the full line position.'More specifically, if such downward extensions were not provided, thenas adjusting knob I 0 is turned to tighten the head piece element 8about the head of the wearer only a horizontal force would be applied tothe face piece to urge it against the face of the wearer without anupward force to insure an air-tight fit between the chin portion of theface piece and the chin of the wearer. Thus, it will be seen that byvirtue of the forwardly and downwardly extending end portions of headpiece element 3 there is rovided an upward component of force to firmlyhold the chin portion ,of the face piece against the chin of the weareras well as a horizontal component of force to insure an air-tight fit ofthe marginal portions of the face piece which engage the cheek andforehead of the wearer.

The headgear is pivotally mounted to the face piece by means of a pivotassembly more clearly shown in Figure 3 and comprising a bolt IS thebottom surface of the head of which engages a marginal portionsurrounding a hole formed in face piece I and a nut H. A rubber washerI8 is provided as well as washers l9 and .20, preferably of fibre. Thusit will be seen that by suitable tightening up of nut l1 any selectiveamount of frictional grip can be secured, to offer resistance againstpivotal movement of the headgear with respect to the face piece, and sothat after the pivotal movement has been completed the headgear willremain in a fixed position with respect to the face piece rather than befreely swingable relatively thereto. Of course, other well-known pivotalassemblies may be substituted for obtaining this same result.

In operation, for example when the respirator is used by an aviator asan oxygen mask in which case tube 3 is connected .to a suitable oxygentank (not shown), when the aviator wishes to mount the respirator, hegrasps face piece I with one hand placing it against his face, then heslides the same hand upwardly over the face piece grasping the headpiece when in the dot-anddash position, and pivotally moves it to thefull line position at which time he continues the sliding movement ofthe same hand until it reaches adjusting knob l0. Finally he turns knobIn so as to decrease the girth or tighten head piece element 8 about therear part of the head and in so doing exerts a pulling forcehorizontally as well as upwardly on the face piece so as to clamp it inair-tight relationship to the chin, cheek and head of the wearer.

It will be apparent, of course, that other forms of face pieces may beused still retaining the benefits the novel headgear pivotal mountingand constructional details disclosed herein.

Thus, it will be seen that I have provided a respirator which is highlyeflicient in operation, which is of relatively simple construction andwhich can be very quickly mounted merely by the use of one hand so as tofree the other hand of the wearer for other uses such as piloting anairplane; also I have provided a novel headgear construction which ispivotally secured to a face piece so that by a simple pivotal movementthe necessary clamping may be secured between the face piece and theface of the wearer and so that upon tightening of the headgear therewill be insured an air-tight seal about the chin, cheek and forehead ofthe wearer.

While I have illustrated and described a specific embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that this is by way of illustrationonly, and that various changes and modifications may be made within thecontemplation of my invention and Within the scope of the followingclaims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a face piece of rubber-like material having aperimetrical edge portion adapted to fit about the chin, cheek andforehead of the wearer, and a headgear having rigid forwardly projectingend portions pivotally mounted on said face piece and adapted, whenpivotally moved to encircle the head of the wearer, to clamp the facepiece against the face of the wearer.

.2. A respirator comprising, in combination, a face piece of rubber-likematerial having a marginal portion adapted to fit about the chin, cheekand forehead of the wearer, and a headband having end portions pivotallymounted on said face piece and including adjusting means mounted on theheadband for adjusting its girth, said end portions of the headbandextendin angularly downwardly from a horizontally extending portion whenthe headband is in position about the head of the wearer so that upondecreasing the perimeter of said headband by said adjusting means themarginal portion of said face piece will become tightly clamped againstthe chin, cheeks and forehead of the wearer in an air-tight manner.

3. A respirator comprising, in combination, a molded rubber face piecehaving a marginal portion extending about its entire perimeter andadapted to fit against the chin, cheeks and forehead of the wearer, andincluding an exhalation valve and a flexible inhalation tubing, and aheadgear of relatively stiff strip material comprising .a crown portionand an integrally connected portion at right angles thereto including agirth adjusting means, said last named portion adapted to extendhorizontally around the back of the head of the wearer and includingintegrally forward end portions extending downwardly and forwardly at anangle, and pivotal means for pivotally connecting the extremities ofsaid forward end portions to opposite portions of said face pieceadjacent the cheek portions of the face piece, said pivotal meansincludin a bolt and nut adapted to be tightened to provide an adjustablefrictional fit so that the headgear will be frictionally and yieldablyheld at any desired position with respect to the face piece, wherebyupon tightening of the headgear by said girth adjusting means, saidforward end portions thereof will exert a vertical component of force toassure an air-tight fit about the chin of the wearer as well as thecheeks and forehead.

4. A- respirator comprising, in combination, a face piece having amarginal portion adapted to fit on the face to enclose the mouth andnose of the wearer, and a headgear having a rigid, inverted U-shapedstrap adapted to extend vertically over the crown of the head and aU-shaped strap adapted to extend horizontally about the back of thehead, the latter strap having adjusting means for adjusting the girththereof and having integral and rigid forwardly extending end portionspivotally mounted on opposite sides of said face piece so that saidmarginal portion of the face piece will become tightly clamped upon theface of the wearer in an air- 6 tight manner when said headgear ispivotally moved onto the head.

ROBERT A. GEORGE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 10 Number Name Date 1,410,927 Knoblock Mar. 28,1922 1,813,915 Cover July 14, 1931 FOREIGN PATENTS 15 Number CountryDate 472,897 Great Britain Sept. 27, 1937

